From best to worst: The case for Burnley's defence

509 days is a long time in football.

On 21 April, 2025, Burnley enjoyed one of the finest hours in their storied history - a 2-1 win over Sheffield United at Turf Moor secured promotion back to the Premier League with two games to spare at the end of a record-breaking Championship campaign.

Fast-forward to Saturday and the Clarets went down 3-1 at Swansea to slip to the foot of the Championship, winless after seven games from which they earned just three draws.

The stats are eye-watering. Among the 92 clubs, only one has conceded more goals this season. Bromley, newly promoted to League One, have allowed 17 - seven of which came against leaders Sheffield Wednesday - and even the Ravens have earned more points than the Clarets so far, and from one fewer game.

After a season of glory came a season of turmoil in which the club lost 24 of their 38 Premier League games and earned 22 points - the lowest since joining the Football League in 1888, when adjusted for three points for a win.

Belgian coach Nicky Hayen came in to turn the tide after a protracted search for a replacement for Scott Parker, who left the club by mutual consent in April, with Mike Jackson taking interim charge for the final four games.

It was under Parker that Burnley secured 100 points for just the second time in the club's history, with a 33-match unbeaten in 2024-25 built upon an extraordinary defensive record.

Parker's side kept 30 clean sheets in 46 games and conceded a staggering 16 goals all season.

James Trafford played all but one of those games in goal, and Burnley posted an impressive 85.6% save percentage across that season.

Current keeper Max Weiss, a 22-year-old German who made just seven appearances in all competitions last season following his arrival from Karlsruhe, has played every minute of the seven Championship games so far and has a save percentage of just 50%.

His heavy touch paved the way for Swansea's opening goal on Saturday, while Ugo Raghouber's poor backpass allowed the Swans a second just after the half-hour.

Hayen said after the match: "Swansea won the game today but we lost it in the first half.

"We started actually quite well, we created as many opportunities as Swansea in the first half, but we made two individual mistakes and we are 2-0 down.

"They managed the boxes better than we are doing at the moment."

That was also the case in the 4-1 defeat at Norwich, when a sliced clearance from new signing Anel Ahmedhodzic and some slack defending from a set-piece allowed the Canaries to lead 3-0 after just 21 minutes.

Connor Roberts, now used at left-back, was the only member of the back five from that glorious promotion campaign who started at Swansea, although left wing-back Lucas Pires, who also appeared in 34 games that term, did come off the bench.

Bashir Humphreys is the only other defender involved in that season to have appeared this term, albeit only twice.

Maxime Esteve played all 46 games in their promotion season but departed for RB Leipzig in July following Burnley's relegation, and they have used nine different players across the backline in their opening seven matches, with Kyle Walker, now 36, playing every minute of six of those, most recently at centre-back.

Swansea was the first game in which Hayen picked the same backline in consecutive games.

Fans beyond Turf Moor will be well aware that Burnley have been promoted or relegated in five straight seasons.

The problem with yo-yos is that when the momentum turns and the string goes dead, you can't get it back.

Could Burnley be facing the prospect of 'doing a Leicester' and suffering back-to-back relegations to extend their extraordinary run to six seasons?

Well, the stats don't make for comfortable reading.

Only 15 teams have previously conceded 16 or more goals in the opening seven matches of a Championship season (since 2004-05) - and five of them ended up being relegated.

Only one side has ever recovered from such a poor defensive start and ended up winning promotion to the Premier League. That was Southampton in 2023-24, and they took 10 points from those opening seven matches - seven more than Burnley have managed.

If you're looking for cause for optimism, Clarets fans, the next game is at Turf Moor, where all of your points have been won, and it comes against Derby, one point and two places better off, and with just six goals scored in their opening seven matches - the second lowest in the division, behind newly-promoted Lincoln's five.

Former Genk boss Hayen was only appointed on 10 July, just 29 days before their season-opener in the EFL Cup against Notts County, newly promoted from League Two, which they won on penalties.

It was the first of nine games in 35 days, which means time between games will have largely been spent on recovery rather than intensive work to instill patterns of play.

Maybe the three-week international break which follows the visit of the Rams will give Hayen the chance to do some vital work on the training field.